So I managed to ruin a nice piece of redwood

[KCW]

I was excited to use dye in my juice for the first time, and I had read that I need to put way more dye in than seemed right, so I did, and I still got pink. I don't know where I went wrong, but after seeing the redwood finished, I sure wish I hadn't messed with it. I also don't know why part of the wood didn't take the dye. Any comments or help are appreciated.

 

[RobS]

I can not offer any advice. However, as far as mistakes go, this one looks pretty darn sweet. Nice work, I know its not your color, but someone will definitely buy that off you.

Good luck.

 

[KenV]

Dan

I see the variation in color density in woods that have been stabalized. Both the cactus juice and the commercial blanks purchased from big volume businesses. The softer takes more dye and solution than the harder.

Time or repeated cycles may reduce the undyed portion but the change gets smaller fast (decaying exponential curve as an approximation).

Nice pink. Dark red is a hard color to achieve and darker pinks are more likely.

 

[KCW]

I can not offer any advice. However, as far as mistakes go, this one looks pretty darn sweet. Nice work, I know its not your color, but someone will definitely buy that off you.

Good luck.

Thanks Rob, if I have learned anything selling pens, it is that people have individual tastes. I can't count how many pens that I have finished, and said, "wow that is one ugly pen", and the next show it is sold. I am starting to wonder if it is me that has the bad taste!

 

[KCW]

Dan

I see the variation in color density in woods that have been stabalized. Both the cactus juice and the commercial blanks purchased from big volume businesses. The softer takes more dye and solution than the harder.

Time or repeated cycles may reduce the undyed portion but the change gets smaller fast (decaying exponential curve as an approximation).

Nice pink. Dark red is a hard color to achieve and darker pinks are more likely.

Thanks Ken, my first thought was that it was a density issue, but I thought it was strange that it was pretty much split in half, dye on one side, and not on the other. The outside of these were nice and dark red, and I was excited to turn them, then bam! pink.:biggrin:

 

[WIDirt]

KCW,

I have 0 experience with dyeing, stabilizing, or casting. However, I noticed you said that the blank was red before you turned it, so, my thought on this is, would it be possible to stabilize it slightly, per KenV (multiple stabilizing sessions), then turn it down to almost the size you need and stabilize it again. I would think that the less you turn off the darker it will be. Pigments can only get so far into the wood, being filtered by the fibers of the wood itself.

Any of you stabilizers out there that may have tried this, please feel free to tell the wannabe (me) what for!

 

[crabcreekind]

I tried stabilizing redwood before and I had a similar problem. Redwood is naturally oily, and for some reason has a hard time absorbing resin to begin with. I had a similar question a few years ago, and a couple of people said they had the same problem. I can't offer much help, other than to tell you that you aren't the only one with this problem.

 

[KCW]

I have to say that I wouldn't mind the two tone look as much if it was red instead of pink. I have considered turning the blank down and then dying it. I will have to experiment a little.